You absolutely want to go through the receiver first then to the TV, as Andrew said depending on which receiver you get it may do a better job with the video than the TV will but also since you are using the RCA cables from the TV to the receiver you are only getting stereo, with HDMI going to the receiver you are getting much better audio, Dolby Digital 5.1 for the cable, Sat or off air HD stuff & if your receiver is HDMI 1.3 you can get lossless audio from Blu-Ray or HD-DVD.